Tag: Society

The objective of the director/author/owner of the video is to expose hidden facts about the EDSA Revolution Yellow Propaganda. By simply stating the FACTS, everything becomes astoundingly simple and clear. For 25 years, media has been forcibly feeding people about their mystical notion of People Power, an event that was not participated by more than 80 million Filipinos back in 1986. 25 years after this so called “bloodless” revolution (Ironically, thanks to Marcos), the rich has gotten more wealthy and are poised to own the utilities and infrastructures of the country while the entire populace of the Philippines is mired in POVERTY, MEDIOCRITY and constant SUFFERING.

Getting to the heart of the Pinay’s Madonna-Whore Syndrome. Is the modern Filipina well-informed enough not to fall into bad situations? Or are we unknowingly contributing to our own problems?

PRESS RELEASE

New Mini Documentary Discusses
Filipina Sexual Empowerment Issues

New mini-documentary film directed by award-winning director Kamil Roxas is one of the highlights of this year’s edition of Illustrado Magazine’s annual event Women of Substance

The film titled “Filipina on Top” – revolving around empowering Filipinas in overcoming prevalent concerns such as sexual harassment, sexual abuse and unwanted pregnancies – is a follow-up to last year’s successful release of “The Empowered Filipina”

26TH APRIL 2011, DUBAI, UAE – Following last year’s successful release of the specially produced mini-documentary film “The Empowered Filipina,” Dubai-based Filipino lifestyle publication, Illustrado Magazine, announced yesterday the online release of the film’s follow-up “Filipina on Top,” which was premiered during its annual Women of Substance event to be held last 1st April 1st at the Godolphin Ballroom in Jumeirah Emirates Towers.

“Filipina on Top” is also directed by Kamil Roxas, winner of the Hayah Film Competition at the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) in 2008. It talks about the sensitive yet significant issues concerning Filipinas, hoping to create awareness on the harsh realities Filipinas face and, at the same time, provide relevant information and worthwhile advice.

The film discusses the various attitudes towards pre-marital sex and the complex conservative-modern value system of Filipinas. Also tackled in the film is the lack of sex education in the country, contrasted with the omnipresent influence of the highly sexualized Philippine media and how all these shape cultural attitudes, behaviors and the choices Filipinas make for themselves.

Other prevalent concerns among the Filipinas tackled by the film are unwanted pregnancies and sexual harassment – the latter, furthered by Illustrado Magazine’s random survey of around 100 Filipinas in the ages of 20 to 50 years old based in the Middle East, where 75% said that they have experienced sexual harassment of some form, whether mild or serious (where sexual harassment is defined as unwanted sexual advances, request for sexual favors and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature that tends to create a hostile or offensive environment).

According to Illustrado Magazine’s Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Lalaine Chu-Benitez – “While the debate continues on the decaying moral values in Philippine media, especially after the Willie Revillame TV5 fiasco; while the RH bill remains a bone of contention; and more conservative villages follow Alabang’s footsteps seeking to ban the sale of condoms, and artificial birth control without prescription, Filipinas in the Middle East are already on ‘stage three.’ They are experiencing the repercussions of our contradictory value system – suffering sexual harassment of various forms, while some have been jailed due to unwanted pregnancies and illicit relationships (sex without marriage). Clearly, something’s wrong here and we need to wake up and do something.”

Speaking on Illustrado’s Women of Substance advocacy, she says, “Last year, with the showing of the mini-documentary ‘The Empowered Filipina’, we were able to call on our fellow Pinays around the world to uplift themselves despite prevalent negative stereotypes. This year, we would like to encourage them to take charge of all aspects of their life, to protect themselves and to safeguard their situation, as well as future.”

Dubai-based award winning director Kamil Roxas comments, “I think a documentary has always been a beautiful medium and a vitally necessary form of information. Filming ‘The Empowered Filipina’ and ‘Filipina on Top’ with Illustrado’s Women of Substance team is indeed a privilege. I’m pleased that they use this medium of communication to aim for significant awareness campaigns.”

“Because of the cultural sensitivity of the topic, we ensured that we were careful on how we presented the issues, the differing opinions on the matter and as always, the film ends with a call to action and that is for Filipinas to take charge,” Kamil concludes.

The film, which is slated to be screened in various community events, in the UAE, Gulf and other parts of the globe through voluntary and charity groups, will also facilitate the launch of the spin-off “Pinays Take Charge” campaign where Filipinas are invited to pledge on a specific 10-point guideline hoping to inform, educate and alert them on how to handle compromising situations.

Illustrado’s Women of Substance 2011 is a project done in cooperation with Dove and Nikon, and supported by London Dairy, SM Development Corporation and Anlene.

For more information, please contact Illustrado at +9714-3654547 / +9714-3654543.

In short, this will allow any information about you to be shared throughout the public sector without your permission. What kind of information? Anything can be accessed, whether it was gathered by a public body, such as your school or local council, or a private company like your bank or telephone company.

This may not sound too bad on its own but together with the government’s plans for a National Identity Register and increased surveillance powers, it helps enable serious intrusions on our liberty and freedom. Remember, we won’t know who will get hold of the data or why they want it.

What you can do about it

If the idea of your personal life being shared without your consent worries you, make sure you let the government know. Write to your MP using the WriteToThem website. Encourage him or her to vote to have Clause 152 completely removed from the Coroners and Justice Bill.

It only takes a few minutes. To make things easier for you, here’s some sample text:

I refuse to consent to the arbitrary sharing of information under any ‘Information Sharing Order’. Please vote to have Clause 152 completely removed from the Coroners and Justice Bill.

(Make sure you change the text as the site blocks anything that’s registered as copy-and-pasted text.)

Do your research

If you’re not convinced about the dangers of this clause, I encourage you to do some research and learn about the issues. Here’s a starting point:

A German photographer, Hartmut Schwarzbach, is a finalist for the Sony World Photography Awards 2009. His entry portrays the children of a charcoal burner’s camp in Manila. According to an article on the BBC News website, around 30 million Filipinos live in poverty. For comparison, the UK’s population is at around 61 million.

Over the past few days, the Filipino community has been brewing a storm over Episode 4 of the ‘Harry and Paul’ show. It contained a short sketch featuring a Filipina maid which some people found offensive enough to start a petition.

I don’t watch the show but caught the clip via the BBC iPlayer service. Personally, I think that the those complaining missed the real butt of the joke and that the issue was being blown out of proportion.

It was not the Filipina maid who was being mocked. The target was the British class system and culture. The skit ridicules stereotypes of the dim-witted Northerner and the pompous upper middle-class Englishman. What you see in the ‘Harry and Paul’ comedy series are typical examples of British self-deprecating and satirical humour.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines satire as:
“the use of humour, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticise people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.”

You will find that this explains the comedy series perfectly. The same episode similarly pokes fun at Americans, South Africans and Russians, but above all, it mocks the latent stupidity within British culture.

Folks, this show is about British people laughing at themselves, not Filipinos.

As a community, we cannot overreact at every hint of perceived offence to our culture. We have more important things to be concerned about, such as the foreign national ID card. The National ID card and National Identity Register are serious intrusions into our right to privacy and freedom. For more information, please see no2id.

Edit:I’d just like to point out that these are my views. I’m not speaking on behalf of the Filipino community or anyone who is or has been associated with Phil-UK.

Here’s a clip showing the sketch:

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Ivar Berglin of VBS.TV covers Payatas, Metro Manila’s only rubbish dump. Although this short documentary focuses on the dump, it does make you think about issues like poverty, entrepreneurship, ecology, over-population and the Church’s stance against contraception.

Perhaps this human interest story regarding the balut, is merely another way to make the Filipino appear less civilized and more barbaric. I hope you reconsider encouraging anyone of our people to go on television and allowing others to make us look foolish.

This struck me as strange. I don’t think that there’s any reason why balut itself would make Filipinos appear barbaric. Sure, it’s an unfamiliar delicacy to most people in the West. But does the secret blend of 11 herbs & spices make KFC more civilised?

Don’t get me wrong—I happen to think that KFC is finger lickin’ good. However, perhaps this visitor’s comment is more evidence of that old bugbear otherwise known as colonial mentality. Some Filipinos seem to project feelings of inferiority and this is evident in the UK as well as in the Philippines.

It’s sad that we should feel embarrassed about something as simple as food. Food is what helps define our culture and just as we should be proud of what we are, we also shouldn’t be ashamed of what we eat.